Home Cooking: Family Dinner Box of Questions

Home cooking is not just about getting an applaudable meal on the table. It's also about invitation, conversation, and helping guests feel comfortable.

We are not sure whether or not whipping out this box of questions would help our guests feel more comfortable, but for those of you with bigger households or an apartment full of roommates, this box of questions designed for mealtimes might be an interesting conversation starter. Read on for sample questions and more on the story of how this little box came to be.

This box and the others in its series were designed by two moms with six kids between them. They started asking questions to help keep their offspring entertained at the table. From their website:

The questions didn't rely on trivia like the latest on ESPN, Brangelina or American Idol. They delved into serious, thought-provoking issues including ethics and morality, charity and history as well as a strong appreciation for the bonds that tie together family and society.

They gathered questions into these boxes. They can be used one question a week for a year, or mixed up and used ad hoc to jumpstart dinner conversation.

We're split on these - we love the idea of being intentional about good dinner conversation. But a box of questions does feel a little uneasily like camp or bad party mixers.

What do you think? Would you like a box of dinner questions?

We do really like that a portion of the proceeds from every box goes to a great cause: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, which is working to research and treat addiction